United States takes up active role in G-7 again

LONDON June 14:The leaders of the G-7 countries — the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — in a 25-page communique issued on the June 13, the last day of the three-day meeting, committed to cracking down on the use of forced labor, fighting ransomware and combating corruption while calling out China and Russia for human rights abuses.

At the summit, US President Joe Biden declared that "America is back to the table" after leaving his first Group of Seven summit, where world leaders vowed to confront China, boost global infrastructure and donate 1 billion vaccine doses to the rest of the world.

"I conveyed to each of my G-7 counterparts the US is going to do our part. America is back to the table," the president said in a press conference at the conclusion of the meeting with U.S. allies. “The lack of participation in the past and full engagement was noticed significantly, not only by the leaders of those countries but by the people in the G-7 countries"

Mr. Biden called the meeting, his first with the group since assuming the presidency, "extraordinary collaborative and productive,"; and said ending the coronavirus pandemic and ensuring an ";equitable and inclusive" global economic recovery were the foremost priorities for the U.S. and its allies.

Mr. Biden will conclude his first trip overseas at a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.

"Russia has engaged in activities which we believe are contrary to international norms but they have also bitten off some real problems they're going to have trouble chewing on," Mr. Biden said.